​Women who are habitual consumers of processed meats may be highly vulnerable to suffer from breast cancer.

This study investigated the role high dietary ingestion of red and processed meats play in the development of breast cancer. In addition to conducting a comprehensive meta-analysis on data obtained from 10 cohort studies, researchers from the University of Glassgow, UK, tracked the meat intake levels and breast cancer incidence rates of 262,195 women recruited from the UK Biobank cohort for 7 years.

The team of investigators found a higher risk of breast cancer in women in the highest tertile of processed meat consumption than in their counterparts in the lowest tertile of processed meat consumption. Generous consumption of red meat did not have any significant effect on breast cancer risk in this study. Data from this study suggest that high dietary intake of processed meats may accelerate the growth of cancerous cells and tumors in the breast.